OH MY!

What a long strange trip it's been. I just got a notice from Live Journal which I guess must be somehow attached to blogspot saying they wanted to close down this blog due to inactivity. Now to decide if I think I can begin posting on this as well as my other two blogs, Tumblr accounts, and Facebook fan pages!

Where Are You Now?

For those of you who are followers you are probably aware that these last two years have been beyond difficult for me. In fact since you last heard from me I became homeless. Being a stubborn lady I refused to give up my yarn OR my books. I stored them in the tree house I was living in. I recently managed to get back into a house and times are still very hard - but I have another blog that is connected to my Etsy store.

I will try to come back to you with more bookish gadgets and doo-dads but for those of you who are interested, while you wait, you can find me now posting on the new blog.

Where Have I Been and What Else Do I Have to Say About the Kindle Text-To-Speech Function

Well I do have some things stored away to post about and I did indeed give the Kindle text-to-speech a spin. But first an explanation of where I was. AT first I was just gloriously buried in knitting but a few days ago my husband received a FedEx from the military. He is being called back and then sent to Iraq. Things have been a bit hectic here - trying to figure out what will happen to me when he leaves, canceling any contracts that need to be canceled, and trying to still manage to enjoy each other in the time we have left.

Now about that kindle:

I tried to listen to The Torture Garden and all was fine until I realized that the kindle does not realize when to pause. Which really affects the tone of the story. The voice itself is not so bad but perhaps I chose a bad first book to try with this.

I also have the conundrum of when I go out needing access to my knitting patterns. What on earth does this have to do with the kindle? You can upload music, audio books, and in my case - knitting patterns to it. At first I thought I would need to buy the proper adapter. Not so! For any of you who have one or as considering one - you can remove the outlet plug-in to reveal a USB connector. The Kindle comes up like any other removable drive and you can drop and drag to the correct folders.

More specifically about loading knitting patterns. Since so many of them are PDF's you should know it is best for you to open the pattern and save as text instead of copy. When you save as copy your pattern isn't viewable. I do not recommend loading any pattern that requires a chart. I haven't tried to do it yet but I cannot see how that would fair well.

And I Didn't Even Need to Skip School!

Well darlings, it's here. It's finally here - and I nearly skipped class to insure that I did not miss the delivery man. Have I read with it yet? If you count the first page of The Wasteland then yes. I wanted to give the K2 the time it deserves so I am finishing the audio book I am listening to on my laptop while I knit. I should be finished with it tomorrow. My first K2 test drive will in fact be the audio. I want to know how well it performs.

Since I do not have any of the Kindle goodies I mentioned in a previous post I will need to knit myself a K2Cozy (just as SOON as I finish this honeycomb sweater.)

Ask Me No Questions, I'll Tell You No Lies

Let's face it - all I've been able to say or think about right now is Kindle, Kindle, Kindle. And the worst part was I didn't know if I had even gotten it because it was first come first serve - well I believe I can rest assured I probably have it from the e-mail I received today from Amazon.

_________________________________________

Dear [Petit ver episurien de livre],

Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to Amazon Kindle 2.

We built Kindle 2 with the goal of creating an exceptional and hassle-free reading experience. As such, we wanted to point out a few details before you get started.

Your Kindle is automatically registered to the same Amazon.com account you used to make your purchase. This enables you to shop, purchase, and download books, newspapers, magazines and blogs wirelessly from your Kindle right out of the box.

If you purchased Kindle as a gift for someone else, you should de-register this Kindle from your Amazon.com account. You can de-register Kindle from the Settings page on the device or at Manage Your Kindle on Amazon.com. The gift recipient can then re-register the device to their Amazon.com account right from the Settings page on the Kindle.

Protect your Kindle for an additional year and guard against one-time accidental drops and damage with a 2-Year Extended Warranty for Kindle 2 . Visit the Kindle 2 Accessories Store on Amazon.com to shop for great Kindle 2 covers and accessories.

You can start building your library before your Kindle even arrives by shopping for books, newspapers, magazines and more at the Kindle Store on Amazon.com. Amazon's unique wireless delivery system, Amazon Whispernet, will auto-deliver your purchases directly to your Kindle. Once you receive your Kindle, you can also shop the same great selection directly from your device.

Your Kindle purchases are made using your existing default 1-Click payment method at Amazon.com. To view or change the current payment method associated with your Kindle, please visit Manage Your Kindle on Amazon.com. For general information on 1-Click, please visit the 1-Click section on Amazon.com help.

To get more information about your Kindle before it arrives, please visit the online Kindle Users Guide.

We hope you enjoy reading on Kindle and look forward to hearing about your experience. Send us your feedback at kindle2-feedback@amazon.com.

Sincerely,

The Amazon Kindle Team

M-Edge

It was only a matter of minutes after my last post that I decided to purchase the new Kindle. IF I was not too late and will be sent one it should be arriving February 26th.

In the meantime for those of you who already have one or are waiting on yours as well, here are some Kindle items for your consideration:

M-Edge items


The Executive Image Jacket for Kindle 1

$29.99

The e-luminator book light for Kindles 1 & 2

$14.99

The Platform jacket for Kindle 2

$29.99

K-Day (like D-Day or V-day - yeah I know . . . I kinda suck)

The day SO many of us has waited for - is here. And I am sooooooooooo glad I held out.

The kindle 2 is now available for pre-order with a price tag of $359. I will be spending the day deciding to pre-order or not to pre-order.

For those of you who did not receive the same e-mail as myself. Here is the announcement:

Dear Customers,

I am proud to introduce Kindle 2—the next generation of our wireless reading device.

Since launching the original Kindle a little over a year ago, the customer response has far surpassed our highest hopes—and were grateful and appreciative for that. More people are reading more books, periodicals, and blogs on Kindle sooner than we ever imagined. We kept everything readers love about the original Kindle—the convenience of reading what you want, when you want it, the immediacy of getting book wirelessly delivered in less than 60 seconds, and Kindles ability to disappear in your hands so you can get lost in the authors words.

Improved battery life means you can read up to four days on a single charge. Its new, streamlined design makes Kindle 2 as thin as a typical magazine and lighter than a paperback. We added more storage, allowing you to carry over 1,500 titles. An advanced display provides even crisper images and clear text for an improved book-like reading experience. Our new new Text-to-Speech feature means Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud to you.


At Amazon, weve always been obsessed with selection, and we know that even the best reading device would be useless without the books you want to read. Today, the Kindle Store has more than 230,000 books, including 103 of the 110 New York Times Best Sellers, plus top newspapers, magazines, and blogs. We added over 40,000 new titles in just the last three months. Our vision for Kindle is to have every book ever printed, in any language, all available in under 60 seconds.

We hope you enjoy Kindle 2.


Jeff
Jeff Bezos
Founder, Amazon.com

P.S. If you'd like to have Kindle 2 ship to you the day it becomse available, we recommend you preorder today to reserve your place in line.
We hope you found this message to be useful. However, if you'd rather not receive future e-mails of this sort from Amazon.com, unsubscribe here.

© 2009 Amazon Technologies, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon, the Amazon.com logo, Kindle, and the AmazonKindle logo are trademarks of Amazon Technologies, Inc. or its affiliates. Kindle, and the AmazonKindle logo are trademarks of Amazon.com Inc. or its affiliates.
Amazon.com, 1200 12th Ave. S., Suite 1200, Seattle, WA 98144-2734. Reference:11267670

Thank You

Thank you SO much to those of you who have contacted me with your condolences and well wishing. I will try to come back to you once I have an arsenal of goodies for you.

In the time that I have been gone I have been mostly knitting to deal with the grief so once I am back there will probably be the addition of knitting tidbits or knitbits as well.

For any of you who ARE knitters - I am now on ravelry as VAChickWithSticks

Last Post?

This has been a rough year. And I'm terribly sorry for the inconsistency after a while. My computer went down many times, I lost power for over a week, and last week my little brother died. Perhaps it was not my year to blog.

"Talk Amongst Your Shelves"

Thanks to hurricane Ike I have not had power until very recently. Here is the promised post that I told you was coming.

When reading isn't enough - why not arrange your books to tell their own story?




"The Sorted Books project began in 1993 years ago and is ongoing. The project has taken place in many different places over the years, ranging form private homes to specialized public book collections. The process is the same in every case: culling through a collection of books, pulling particular titles, and eventually grouping the books into clusters so that the titles can be read in sequence, from top to bottom. The final results are shown either as photographs of the book clusters or as the actual stacks themselves, shown on the shelves of the library they were drawn from. Taken as a whole, the clusters from each sorting aim to examine that particular library's focus, idiosyncrasies, and inconsistencies — a cross-section of that library's holdings."

You can now view other people's sortings here on Flickr.

Source

Marilyn Monroe's Typewriter

Sorry It Happened Again

I swear I'm not dead.

My computer was fried due to landlord-related negligence involving my electricity.

Stay tuned- I have a post planned.

Attention Kitchen Witches

Well cats and kittens - it's happened again. I am having computer issues. When my power was blown it fried my machine.

On to the post.

After the other days post I did a little more digging and there are quite a few Harry Potter based recipes out there.

Even Betty Crocker has joined forces with Hogwarts and put out their own licorice wand recipe. Nutritional info is even included.

6 ounces vanilla-flavored candy coating (almond bark), chopped
24 licorice twists (any flavor)
Betty Crocker® Decor Selects candy sprinkles, nonpareils or colored sugars

1. Place candy coating in 2-cup microwavable measuring cup. Microwave uncovered on High 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 15 seconds, until melted.
2. Dip half of each licorice twist into melted candy coating. Sprinkle with candy sprinkles. Place on waxed paper about 1 hour or until coating is firm.

Here is a site with Harry Potter inspired theme recipes like parchment scrolls, herbology fruit, and licorice wands.

Floo Network, not to be confused with the Food Network, a site that takes its name from Floo Powder has a recipe for Mrs. Weasley's Rock Cakes.

Mrs. Weasley's Rock Cakes

Ingredients:

8oz or 2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
4oz or 1 stick of butter
3oz sugar (1/3 cup plus a tbsp)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 oz currants or sultanas (scant 1/3 cup golden raisins)
1 tbsp candied peel
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
caster sugar for dredging (superfine sugar)

Directions:

1. Put the flour and salt in a mixing bowl and rub in the butter lightly with the fingers until the mix looks like breadcrumbs.
2. Stir in the sugar and dried fruits.
3. Beat the egg with the milk and vanilla, then pour it into the flour and fruit mixture, and mix it up to make a stiff dough.
4. Butter two baking sheets, and drop on tablespoons of the mixture.
5.Roughen the dough lumps with a fork, and dredge with a little castor sugar. (should be enough mix to make 15 - 20 small cakes)
6. Bake in a hot oven, 425F or 220C, for 12-15 minutes, until firm and pale golden. Cool them on a wire rack.

NOTE: They should be crumbly in texture. If they are hard and inedible, like Hagrid's, you mixed the dough for too long or baked them in the oven too long.

Following that recipe on Floo Networks page are recipes for gingerbread newts, pumpkin pasties, treacle (molasses to those of us in the US) fudge, and butter beer.

Another new [to me at least] and interesting site, Potter Parties has a massive list of recipes. The site also has instructions on how to find or plan a Potter party. Here is their recipe for Dobby's delight.

Dobby's Delight

Ingredients:

1 cup shortening
9 tablespoons cocoa or 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
11 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 (12 ounces) carton frozen whipped topping, thawed,divided
2 cups cold milk
1 (3.9 ounces) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional
Instructions:

1. Melt shortening and chocolate or cocoa in microwave and transfer to mixing bowl.
2. Blend in sugar, eggs and vanilla.
3. Add flour, salt and baking powder.
4. Pour into a 9x13 pan, with bottom only greased.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
6. Cool completely.
7. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar till smooth and light.
8. Fold in 2 cups of whipped topping.
9. Spread over brownies.
10. In another bowl, combine milk and pudding mix.
11. Whisk till smooth and thickening.
12. Refrigerate 5 minutes, then spread over cream cheese layer.
13. Top with remaining whipped topping.
14. Sprinkle with pecans if desired.
15. Keep refrigerated.

This should keep those of you waiting for the movie busy with Harry Potter goodies in the meantime.

Might I even suggest a Harry Potter party when the movie is released on DVD?

Harry Potter Recipes

While you wait for the new Harry Potter movie to come out you can make yourself a few HP treats. For those of you who are hardcore fans, this is OFN, but those of you who have a fondness that does not usually extend to fansites - I've got news. Mugglenet (an HP fansite) offers the below recipes for items mentioned in the series.


Madame Rosmerta's Butterbeer

Ingredients:
1 cup (8 oz) club soda or cream soda
1/2 cup (4 oz) butterscotch syrup (ice cream topping)
1/2 tablespoon butter

Directions:
Measure butterscotch and butter into a 2 cup (16 oz) glass. Microwave on high for 1 to 1½ minutes, or until syrup is bubbly and butter is completely incorporated. Stir and cool for 30 seconds, then slowly mix in club soda. Mixture will fizz quite a bit. Serve in two coffee mugs or small glasses.





Pumpkin Juice

Ingredients:
2 cups of pumpkin, chopped up into chunks
2 cups of apple juice
1/2 cup of pineapple juice
1 teaspoon of honey (to taste)
Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg and/or Allspice (all ground, to taste)

Directions:
Juice the pumpkin pieces by squeezing through a cheesecloth or by using a juicer. Pour the pumpkin juice, apple juice and pineapple juice into a blender. Add the honey and spices, adjusting quantity to taste. Chill or serve over ice.


Treacle Fudge

Ingredients:
1/2 cup light cream or evaporated milk
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup molasses

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix cream, brown sugar and salt together, set aside. In a saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter together. Remove from heat and add molasses. Add the chocolate mixtures and cream mixtures together. Pour mixture into a pan and let cool. Cut into squares after cooled and serve.



In fact the food network seems to have a recipe of their own for butter beer.

On my next trip to the grocer I intend to pick up what's needed to make butter beer. If it seems you're interested in the results - please let me know and I will definitely make a post about it. Otherwise, I may not - to avoid boring you.

Anyone who has already tried any of these. I'd love to hear how it went!!

Source

Trashionista hottness

While perusing one of my favorite sites I came across a great block of information.

The new Harry Potter movie will be delayed. Instead of opening in November it is now slated to come out July of next year. Apparently there are even petitions in circulation to do something about this injustice.

http://www.trashionista.com/2008/08/movie-news-harr.html

A look at Anthropologies [in store I believe] book decor


I've never seen anything this complex in an Anthropologie. I'm not sure I could handle the pleasure overload though.

Even more pictures of this bookish hottness on Trashionistas source.

http://www.trashionista.com/2008/08/book-displays-a.html

And last but not least. How to make your own book rack from a wire coat hanger (despite what Joan Crawford would have said about the matter.)


http://www.trashionista.com/2008/08/make-a-book-rac.html

Peleg Design - Reflective Book End

If you are even unsure of whether or not the object before you is a book, the reflective book end can help put an end to your woes. Mind you this sweet relief will only come if you stand at a certain angle. The "action" shot is available on the site - and I must say it looks a lot better with books between each end, however I;m not sure if this is an item this particular blogger feels is worth the samoleans.



It's not available yet but click here for watch when it becomes available for purchase.

Source

DIY Book Art

An interesting idea - framing a favorite passage of a book. I couldn't bring myself to rip up one of my own babies but perhaps if you had your hands on a book that was nearly in shreds . . .

Insider Kindle Info

For those of us still cryin' ourselves to sleep over the absence of the kindle in our lives. I have news.

Two new editions of the kindles are scheduled to hit stores this coming holiday studio.

"The first is an updated version with the same sized screen, a smaller form factor, and an improved interface. The source told us that Amazon has “skipped three or four generations,” comparing the old Kindle to the 1st gen iPod and the new version to something like the sexy iPod Mini.

The second new model, which is shaped like an 8 1/2 x 11-inch piece of paper, is considerably bigger than the current model and should be available next year."

The need for DIY mod's will decrease with the new option of different colors.

Both of these models will also be geared more towards younger readers (which causes no undue stress for those of use over the age of twenty who read Harry Potter, or Uglies, or anything that falls under the young adult category really.)

Source

Douglas Adams Original Typewriter

For those of you who have a spare $25,000 laying around you could have had Douglas Adams' typewriter.



Source

Je suis tellement terriblement désolé

The internet has been cut off at my house so once again I am unable to make regular posts.

I hope to be back very soon.